Time

"There is still twenty-four hours in a day, your theory is preposterous!"

"I'm telling you, the units we use to measure time have been manipulated! The result is the same because the instruments used for calculation have been altered as well!"

"Are you seriously suggesting the space-time continum is being altered?"

"Yes."

Uproarious laughter was the only response, but Sheila DePreist would not be deterred.

"You are hardly an astrophysicist, your simple degree is not up to the Ivy League status of your naysayers."

"Look, I'm not a mechanic either but I know where the gasoline goes. Put aside your PhD for a second and consider the possibility!"

"You wanted your say, you had it. Meeting adjourned!"

"Look! Look here damn you! It's been fifty-six minutes not sixty! That is what I want you to observe! We agreed that the hour started at the same time. Why is your watch four minutes faster than mine?"

"My dear, the same reason ALL of our watches, stopwatches, clocks, and phones are in sync with each other. Your watch is broken. Now, we will adjourn."

"If you will give me four more..."

The gavel came down in three sharp Bursts. "Your time is up whether you believe us or not."

Shelia was not sure how Sampson knew her father's watch was correct, but trying to convince the egg heads here of it was not working. Sampson was right, they refused to accept her hypothesis. She knew better though; time did not just seem to be going by faster, it actually was.

Sampson met Shelia at a diner after a rather spectacular Triple Six concert, impressed the young lady could mosh with the best of them. Their eyes met and a spark was definitely ignited. They have been together for eight months, even though real time was 6.5 months. Sampson knew that people were losing four minutes every hour and had been for years. The experiment to adjust the fabric of reality here on Earth happened just as easily as hoped. The so called intellectuals did not believe, nor accept, this as truth so it must not be. If Sampson was able to keep control over time to shave a fourth of a second off of every second then everything can keep going according to plan. A species who could constantly ignore crash landings, abductions, disappearances, and outright murders, can certainly be trusted to ignore the fact time was slipping away from them and an increasing interval. The term "unexplained phenomenon" wasn't even part of the experiment, humans came up with that on their own. It was quite impressive how easily the masses can be fooled simply by telling them experts said they were not. Sampson reported on the experiment back to The Supervisor, informing all was on pace. The Supervisor first came to this planet in Roswell and, through simple observation, able to report back in findings of this species known as man. What was found out in the 1908 reports of human existence turned out to be true. Human inability to accept the fact of life elsewhere in the universe proved to be a great asset. In was an unfortunate loss of life in the area known as "Russia", but The Orginator survived and was able to describe how easily events could be covered up. The willingness of this species to lie was a great advantage. Sampson carried on the experiment to this day, and wanted the resources here to be available for extraction without human interference. What they could not take into consideration at the beginning was the exponential birth rate. Sure they could have caused sterilization, but not without jeopardizing resources. So if time can be adjusted in such a small scale to quicken the life span of the annoying humans, well then plan B it is. Sheila found out about this without really being aware of the implications the discovery had. Good thing Sampson was able to interject. Sampson knew that the truth needed to be suppressed, and the easiest way to do this was through encouraging Sheila she was right. Not like anyone was going to believe her anyway.

"How did it go?" Sampson asked.

"Uggh! Just as horrible as I thought! Not one of those damn people were willing to listen! Not even any of the other females gave a damn about what I had to say! I was confident if I could convince one of those science ladies, they could convince their peers. That plan went nowhere!" Sampson gave her a hug and a kiss, then stepped behind her for a shoulder rub. The contact allowed the rings to latch onto her skin and release a synthetic endorphine into Sheila's bloodstream producing the desired claming effect. She wrote this off as a sensuous massage, and it was always relaxing.

She fell asleep that night and woke up the next morning wondering where the time went as usual. Shelia got up day after day, with the same unshakable feeling that something strange was going on. Sure age catches up to all us, but she didn't remember her parents having back pain this early in their lives. It seemed like her menstual cycles were getting shorter too, which was somewhat of a blessing. But that shouldn't be happening already should it? After awhile, she let the concept of lost time go; just as Sampson knew she would. Sampson observed her over the years and was pleased when she never pursued the truth any further.

Sheila wrote it off as time gets away from us all. The experiment was going according to plan.

All Sampson had to do was wait for confirmation the naturally occurring pheromone the rings produced to be manufactured on a grand scale. All humans wanted to do was feel good about themselves. If this could be given all the time, then there would be no reason to achieve Europhia through sexual gratification. If that could be achieved, the birth rates could start declining at an slightly increasing and accelerating rate.

It was simply a matter of time.